On Fri, 14 Sep 2001, Dennis wrote:
> From the January 21, 1980 Press Clips column in the Village Voice, for
> Michael P:
>
> "Your Afghan's idea of a jolly good party is to cut off the balls of
> his foe, stuff them in his mouth and leave him as an object of
> derision in the local square. The British found this out, as they
> retreated pellmell across the passes, and so too has Ivan."
I remember reading this column. We's some old men, DP.
> And now Uncle Sam?
One thing to bear in mind: a big reason the Russians got bogged down is because we were supporting the other side (during which time we created the Bin Ladens and Khattabs that have exported so much havoc ever since). And that's been true through history. Afghanistan is great guerilla country, but part of why is because the guerillas have always been supported from without. If Russia and the US (and India and Pakistan and Iran) were on the same side with the convergent interests, it might be a different story. The Taliban, remember, swept the country in a remarkably short time, despite being at the time militarily quite weak and unknown to the inhabitants. And the last effective pocket of resistance suffered a huge blow last week when their leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, was killed by suicide bombers posing as reporters.
So the country might be ripe for another sweep. And if the Taliban could be cut off from their support in Pakistan -- which might in itself be a crucially good thing for Pakistan, and for India/Pakistan relations -- this might conceivably turn out differently from the invasions of Russia and Britain.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com